Have been wanting to write down some biographical stuff for quite some time now, where do I begin? Will anyone actually read it? Well I suppose someone might. Anyways, I’m originally from New York, I was raised in a crazy strict environment, was not allowed to wear makeup, date, listen to rock&roll, etc. (All those things I learned to do after I escaped from prison on my 18th birthday).

Ace Frehley painting "Blue Blazes"

My first serious art inspiration was Alice Cooper, which should have worked out better than it did, and after several attempts at resuscitation I finally let that inspiration die. I also was obsessed with W.A.S.P. for a while, even got a project signed by Blackie Lawless, thought that would lead somewhere (ie, album illustration etc) but it did not. Even so, that phase was fun, I did some very inspired paintings during that time.

Later on, I got into doing Jim Morrison art, which was always a big hit with everyone, but seemed to miss the mark for me. That is to say, I never really felt at One with my subject, though I could capture an essence, it was never perfect.

Sometime in between my first interest in Alice, and Blackie, I fell in love with Ace Frehley, and probably did the best works of my life based on him and KISS.

When Michael Jackson died, I was very sorry I hadn’t spent some time portraying him, as he certainly was a worthy subject. I’ve tried to do a few, as I feel very saddened by our loss, and though some of the MJ projects so far are promising, if you compare them to the ones of Ace and KISS, I’m still not nailing it.

Basically what I’m saying is, over the years I’ve come to the conclusion that, I do my best work when I work with KISS-related things. I can’t really explain it and I don’t want to analyze it too much, it’s just the direction of my energies or whatever. The projects were also bigger then, a sign that I was more “into it” and comfortable with my subject. It’s been many years since I painted Ace, but I know I can pick it right back up again. Just like he did- went away for awhile and came back when he felt the time was right.